Candidates Getting Real About County Finances

Milwaukee County’s tight finances
are the underlying theme of the campaign for county supervisor in the
16th District, which encompasses the Southwest Side of Milwaukee,
Greenfield and West Allis. Incumbent John Weishan faces retired
Milwaukee police detective Timothy John Manzke in the April 1 general
election. The Shepherd Express endorsed Weishan in the Feb. 19 primary.

Weishan,
who was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2000, is a former member
of the U.S. Marines and has a degree in business administration from
UW-Milwaukee. He said that he has protected and enhanced the district’s
parks and preserved bus routes that were slated to be cut by Milwaukee
County Executive Scott Walker. Weishan said he accomplished this while
keeping the property tax impact on the city of Milwaukee to less than
1% and a little bit higher in West Allis and Greenfield, but still less
than the rate of inflation.

“I think I’ve been successful in
delivering for the district in difficult times,” Weishan said. “We
haven’t seen the slippage that other districts have seen.” He said the
Green Print initiative, which he co-sponsored with Supervisor Marina
Dimitrijevic, will save taxpayer money by operating county properties
more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly way.

“We
just finalized contracts with Johnson Controls to save money on energy
costs,” Weishan said, adding, “This is an initiative that is not only
good for the environment, but good for our pocketbooks.”

Weishan
said that in his next term he would like to identify alternative
funding sources for transit, parks and social programs, as well as
enhance economic development. Weishan said that reducing unemployment
would also reduce crime and the demand for county-provided social
programs that are necessary but expensive.

Weishan suggested
launching a countywide strategy that pools the resources of county
government as well as the 19 municipalities within it, what he calls
his “big whale” strategy. “You can put together an economic package to
attract businesses and people here,” Weishan said. “Right now we have
19 municipalities doing 19 different things.

And nobody, not
even the city of Milwaukee, is big enough to attract the kind of
businesses we need.” Weishan said that Milwaukee County residents need
to be realistic about investing in the county’s infrastructure and
services.

“I think people are being duped into believing that
you can have all of your services and reduce taxes at the same time,
that there is this giant fraud, waste, abuse and inefficiencies in the
system,” Weishan said. He added that what some call “inefficiencies”
are actually investments the county must make to match federal or state
dollars for programs, to maintain services and infrastructure or to sow
the seeds for future development.

“You have to make the
investment up front so that three or five years from now you can see
the benefits of it,” Weishan said. Weishan’s opponent, Milwaukee
resident Timothy Manzke, said he was motivated to run for office to be
an advocate for the men- tally ill, the elderly, children and the
disabled. He said that the board should be more concerned about
providing services to those in need than focusing on the bottom line.
“Too much of the conversation is about dollars,” Manzke said.

Manzke,
a retired Milwaukee police detective, is working on his doctorate at
Cardinal Stritch University while working as a part-time college
instructor in criminal justice and general studies. He said that he
would draw on his connections with academics to help him find solutions
to the county’s problems.

“These individuals [Milwaukee County
supervisors] always have the same answer to every problemit’s either
raise taxes or cut services,” Manzke said. “I say it’s creative and
innovative thought.” Manzke said more funding from the state or federal
government would be unlikely, so he said he would like to attract
grants and donations from private businesses and individuals.

“Every
level of government is hurting right now from lost revenue,” Manzke
said. “The possibility of [getting more money from the state] is very
slim. You’re going to have to look at organizations, some very wealthy
individuals and businesses, but I don’t think that you’re going to see
more [money] from the state. If anything, it’s going to get tighter.”

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